


Private Submission

by Trawler



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Anal Play, Anal Sex, Did I Mention Spanking Already, Dominance, Gratuitous Waste Of Antivan Brandy, Hand Jobs, I Hope Orsino's Got Lots Of Tissues, Mild Rope Bondage, Multi, Name Calling, Nipple Clamps, Oral Sex, Spanking, Submission, What Did The Candle Ever Do To You, degredation, no happy ending, there's always time for lube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 09:48:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14830010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trawler/pseuds/Trawler
Summary: Relations between the mages and templars of Kirkwall are strained, and only getting worse. Knight-Commander Meredith takes her frustrations out on First Enchanter Orsino, and all the while the political tension is close to boiling over.





	1. 1

I sat at my desk, piled high with paperwork, and read the latest missive from my opposite number in Ferelden. 

The situation here in Kirkwall had become difficult over the last few weeks. With the Champion showing open support for the Circle, tensions were increasing exponentially, and I knew that it was only a matter of time before things came to a bloody head. 

What I couldn’t realise was that things would come to a head on a much more personal level, in a way that I could never have dreamed. Or fantasised.

As I scanned the letter from Ferelden’s First Enchanter, the door of my office flew open and slammed against the wall. I didn’t need to look up at my visitor to know who she was. 

“I was certain we’d broken you of that habit, my dear,” I drawled. “Even the lowliest servant learns to knock.”

Knight-Commander Meredith strode across the small room and leaned over my desk, her gauntleted hands thumping against the worn wood. 

“I have warned you about your insolence, Orsino!” she growled. Now I _did_ look up, alarmed by her dangerous tone of voice.

Only a blind man could miss the fury in her eyes. I was anything but blind. Her mouth was a thin, angry line; cheeks flushed, breath rough. I met her gaze at last. 

“There is no crime in reminding others of their bad manners.” Even as the words left my lips I cursed my incautious tongue – openly defying her in this mood was asking for trouble.

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, we’re talking about crimes now, are we?” she said. I felt her breath on my face, cool and spicy. “It’s a crime that your precious _Champion_ shows you such favour. All I’m trying to do is maintain _order_ in this city – and yet she defies me at every turn!” Her eyes narrowed again. “ _You_ defy me at every turn! I will not stand for it!”

“The Champion is free to support whomever she chooses,” I remarked. “As the only person capable of ridding us of those blasted Qunari, she is entitled to make whatever alliances she desires.” I stopped, biting back the comment I had wanted to make – that Champion Hawke should become Viscount Hawke. “Now, if you don’t mind, Knight-Commander, I have work to finish.”

_“I will not stand for it!”_ she flared, straightening. I leaned back, alarmed, eyes widening. “Your mages look to _you_ for guidance – you must be beyond reproach! You have a lesson to learn,” she added, forbidding.

Meredith turned and abruptly crossed to the door. I gulped, fearful as I realised that she’d locked the door and removed the key.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“Exerting my authority,” she ground out. 

She returned to my desk in a few steps and raised an arm. I flinched, thinking that she might strike me. I gathered my energy, ready to blast her away with the power of my mind, desperately trying not to think about the ramifications of such a defence.

No blow landed. Her arm swept the papers off my desk. 

“Did you think I was going to hit you?” Meredith smirked, leaning forward again.

I released a great whoosh of breath, letting the magic I had gathered dissipate harmlessly around me. I collapsed back against the chair. 

“I had wondered,” I replied, voice dry. “Such an event would be… unfortunate, for all parties.”

She reached out a gauntleted hand and laid it, palm down, against my chest. I sat stock still, suddenly unable to move. I couldn’t understand it – she had no magical powers beyond those lyrium gave her, so how had she rooted me to the spot?

“Your heart is racing,” she purred, lips curving in a cruel smile that I’d never seen. “I can feel it even through my gauntlet.”

I couldn’t move. I drew a low, shallow breath.

Her head tilted to one side. “I will not beat you, Orsino, though Maker help me I am sorely tempted. I will not hurt you… but I _will _control you.” She un-strapped her gauntlets and tossed them into a corner of the room.__

__“How… how do you propose to do that?” I asked, running my tongue over dry lips._ _

__My heart was, indeed, pounding. I’d never felt her touch before, not even a handshake._ _

__“The way any woman controls a man,” she replied. Her bare hand slid down the front of my robes before coming to rest on my crotch._ _

__My mouth dropped open, but I found I could not speak. Her touch was light, but it aroused a fire I had not felt for years. My cock sprang to life and pushed urgently against her palm._ _

__“Get up, Orsino. Get up and lie on your desk.”_ _

__“M-Meredith?” I was stammering like an apprentice. Where was my poise? Where was my control? Gone. My life’s blood surged through my cock, and I wondered briefly if it would have been better for this situation to end in violence – with my blood spilled on the ground, rather than inflating something that had seen little use for decades._ _

__“I said move.” Her voice was a hiss, poisonous, yet irresistible._ _

__I tried to resist; sweet Andraste, how I tried. As First Enchanter my willpower was like an iron rod, but one whispered command from the Knight-Commander and I was hers!_ _

__I rose with one swift, jerky movement. Her hand tightened briefly on my cock, and I gasped, eyes squeezing shut before she released me._ _

__Swallowing convulsively, I sat on the edge of my desk and slid along, drawing my legs up. She put her hand on my chest and pushed my torso down._ _

__“This – this is wrong,” I groaned, but then her hand was at my crotch again and I couldn’t think._ _

__She climbed onto the desk and straddled me, a feral gleam in her eyes. All I could do was stare at her, helpless to prevent whatever was about to happen._ _

__She began to undo the buttons on my robe, her hands slow and methodical. She took her time, shifting slightly, each movement grinding her body against mine. I was now painfully hard. I wanted to touch her, to feel her bare skin under my hand, but she was encased in armour._ _

__Finally my robe was open, and she pushed it aside to reveal my narrow chest. I am not a well-fleshed man; the Maker saw fit to bless me with elvish parents, so I was slightly built. Time and the stresses of magic made my ribs protrude._ _

__“My, such a thin man,” she remarked, running calloused fingers over my skin. I shuddered; her touch sent electric sparks directly to my cock. “Such a narrow vessel to hold so much magical strength.” She pushed my robe away from my legs and trailed a hand over one thigh. I trembled._ _

__“Tsk. You are lax in your dressing habits, Orsino. No undergarments.”_ _

__I dare make no comment; so desperate was I to feel her touch, so uncertain of the outcome of this bizarre punishment. It was of no interest to Meredith that many male mages foreswore pants, preferring to let a little air circulate when they were confined to their stuffy Gallows cells._ _

__She leaned forward and grabbed my hair with her right hand. My head tilted back, eyes clenched with pain, and that was when she kissed me._ _

__There was no question of sparring for dominance with this kiss. Meredith controlled it, and she controlled me. Her lips pushed mine apart, tongue flicking across mine. I moaned against her mouth and she bit my lip._ _

__Finally, amazingly, her left hand curled around my straining cock. I was powerless to bite back a groan as my back arched, mouth stretching with helpless pleasure._ _

__“Public defiance, Orsino, must lead to private submission,” she barked, her breath coming in short pants. Her hand stroked up and down my cock, and I was shocked to realise that it wouldn’t be long before I came. I had never in my long life felt so aroused; never felt such a dirty, filthy thrill! I was _submitting myself_ to the Knight-Commander. Shame would come later, shame and self-hatred, but right now everything was overwhelmed by the rising tide of my own lust. _ _

__I curled a hand loosely around her hip as she manipulated me, but all I felt was cold metal armour. Feverish, I wondered what her skin would feel like under my fingers._ _

__And then her movements stopped._ _

__“What… what?” I spluttered, staring into her dancing eyes._ _

__“Is that the best you can manage, Orsino?” she said, voice softer than any desire demon’s. “Whatever happened to your famous manners?”_ _

__I clutched at the metal encasing her hip, yearning to feel smooth flesh beneath my hand._ _

__“I want… I want…”_ _

__“I know what you want. Such a _slut,_ Orsino. But… I will hear you beg for it.”_ _

__At that point, I felt I would do anything to feel her hand around my cock again._ _

__“Please, Meredith,” I begged instantly. “Please touch me. Please.”_ _

__“There’s a good boy,” she crooned, and her magical hand once again enveloped my throbbing shaft. She stroked me slowly, drawing out my pleasure, leaving me a gasping and writhing wreck under the powerful anchor of her body._ _

__“I’m going to… _Meredith,_ by Andraste’s grace, sweet _Maker…_ I’m going to…”_ _

__Her hand slowed, stilled. I could have wept with frustration. “Beg me for it. Beg me, mage-slut.”_ _

__I begged. I begged like an Orlesian whore, like an elvish madam in Hightown’s Blooming Rose. Finally, after what felt like a tortuous age, she began her ministrations again._ _

__There was nothing slow about her movements this time. Her hand was a blur on my cock. As I moaned and cried she bent her head and flicked her hot, wet tongue over my pebble-hard nipples._ _

__It was too much for my primed body to handle. An orgasm ripped through me with the force of a hurricane; I bucked so hard against Meredith’s metal-clad body that I thought I might unseat her. But she remained steadfastly in place, slick hand moving over my pulsing cock as it erupted in wave after wave._ _

__I collapsed back against the desk, spent, barely able to move._ _

__“I feel, that you will require more discipline than the average mage,” she told me, her voice silk. I tried to focus bleary eyes on her face, and as I looked at her, she raised her dripping hand to my mouth. “Every time you defy me, you shall be punished. Clean my hand, Orsino.”_ _

__I licked her hand like a lapdog, barely flinching as I tasted my own come. The salty taste mixed with her own personal tang, and I found myself sucking her fingers with abandon._ _

__Maker help me, I had turned into Meredith’s whore._ _

__She pulled her hand away from me and I whimpered at its loss. Using the edge of my robe, she wiped the rest of my come from her armour. She slid off the desk, lithe and dangerous._ _

__“Remember, Orsino. Every single act of public defiance… every speech, every display… will result in your private submission to my will.”_ _

__She stooped to recover her gantlets. As she turned and left my office, I lay like a limp rag doll across my desk._ _


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Orsino's public act of defiance, Meredith is forced to punish Orsino again.

It took time to recover from that mind-blowing event. Meredith had stolen every ounce of my strength; it was all I could do just to raise my hands enough to cover the little dignity I had left.

Eventually, though, I was able to slide off my desk. I wobbled on unsteady feet back to my chair and collapsed. My hands trembled so badly that it took an age just to refasten the buttons of my robe. 

What in the name of all that was holy had just happened? While it was true that Knight-Commander Meredith and I shared a stormy working relationship, things had never before taken such an intimate twist. We were of a similar age, faces lined with the passage of time, but Meredith was not an unattractive woman. Far from it – her thick hair was still the same pale blonde, her body strong and muscular from years of hard swordsmanship. Her eyes, as ever, were gimlet blue, so useful for pinning an apprentice mage to the wall, or inspiring a junior templar to hang on her every word. 

I remembered, now, the way those eyes danced as she taunted me. I became hard again, uttering a groan of despair.

“Why now?” I hissed, raising my gaze heavenwards. “Maker, why test me now?”

I had to get out of this room, this place where Meredith had so used me. I would never again be able to look at my desk without remembering the feel of her body against mine as she straddled me, the way her armour had prevented me from feeling her bare skin…

I rose to my feet in one swift movement, damning my own weakness. I left my office without a backward glance and headed for my private quarters. I met one or two mages on the way – and at least a dozen templars – but no one questioned or stopped me. I tried not to picture the look on my face.

When I reached the relative safety of my own rooms, I locked the door behind me and took the time to place a Glyph of Paralysis at the entry for good measure. I needed time alone with my thoughts, undisturbed. Time to work out what Meredith had turned me into – what I had become.

My hands trembled still as I poured a shot of fine Antivan brandy. I knocked the potent liquor back in one gulp, then coughed as it seared down my throat. I poured another, larger, measure, pleased that the alcohol was steadying my hands.

I sat in a high-backed chair and let out a gusty sigh. Meredith had promised that I’d be subject to more such ‘punishments’ if I were to consort with Lady Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall. A sick feeling of dread told me that, even if I were to end my alliance with Hawke, the punishments would continue.

My erection hadn’t lessened since the moment it re-emerged, and I cursed Meredith for making my body feel such craven lust. I’d had little cause for any kind of physical entanglement in many, many years; mages in a Circle were forced to remain celibate, less they pass on the ‘curse’ of magic to their progeny. Apostates could, and did, raise families, but I’d never had the luxury. Those things were taken from me many years ago.

And now Meredith was taking the few things I had left – my dignity, my pride. My free will.

I sipped the Antivan brandy and tried not to remember the feel of her hand curled around my cock, but it was impossible. Her touch had been firm, yet soft; controlling, yet encouraging. 

“She called me a mage-slut,” I whispered. Sweet Maker. I had become her toy, her pet – to be controlled, to be used. To be abused. The thought made me even harder, and I suddenly cursed the fact that I had been made a man. If I were a woman, would Meredith still have imposed her will in such a manner?

A vivid fantasy of the Knight-Commander fingering a female First Enchanter on my desk had me biting back a groan, and my free hand moved unconsciously to my groin. No, Meredith would have behaved the same whatever the gender of her opponent – her will would be done.

Shame washed through me in a sick wave, shame and hatred at my own weakness. I shifted, uncomfortable, painfully aware of my throbbing erection. Even through my robe, the touch of my own hand made me draw a sharp breath of pleasure. I longed to stroke myself to release, but I would not give Meredith the pleasure – however unknowing – of my weakness.

But Maker help me, I was so _hard._

I sat like that for hours, trying to ignore the painful throb between my legs, but I would have found defeating a pride demon easier. My anger rose with my lust, and finally, in a pique of rage, I threw my half-empty glass at the wall. It smashed, splashing brandy down the rough stones.

Both hands free, I scrabbled at my robe, ripping the buttons off in a desperate struggle to get at my cock. I whimpered as my hand closed, beginning a rapid up and down motion, while my free hand closed convulsively over the arm of my chair. My eyes clenched shut and I pictured Meredith in my head, Meredith as she pinned me to my desk and forced an orgasm from me.

I pumped hard, needing to feel that blissful release, but however much I tried I couldn’t climb that peak. 

It took me some time to realise what I needed.

Meredith. Meredith’s hand. That firm, yet subtle touch, ordering me to come, telling me what a slut I was…

Eventually I gave up, trying to hold back a sob of mingled shame and frustration as I readjusted my robes. 

I was despicable. I was possessed by a demon, a slave to the Knight-Commander’s whim.

 

******

 

My next ‘punishment’ was just a few days later. Steered by two things – the need to ease the crippling impositions of the templars on my mages, and the far baser need to feel Meredith’s hand again – I had arranged a meeting with Lady Hawke. A public meeting. As I had known, word reached Meredith, and she came to me that very evening.

I tended to retire to my quarters after a certain time, but that night I remained in my office. I hoped – I feared – I _longed_ – for Meredith to come, and sure enough, she slammed my door open.

“How short your memory is, Orsino,” she growled as she crossed the threshold. My heart leaped at the sight of her – form-fitting armour, pale hair in a straight curtain to her shoulders, blue eyes flashing with wrath. She’d thrown back her red hood, but the golden circlet of office still graced her brow. 

She was terrible to behold, terrible yet beautiful. My cock rose in helpless anticipation.

But… I had to play the game. I could not just roll over and beg for her hand, much as I desired to; I was First Enchanter, and I had an image to maintain. Meredith expected certain things of me, I was sure.

“My memory, Knight-Commander, has always been impeccable,” I drawled. 

She closed the door behind her, locked it. Placed the key on a bookshelf. My eyes flicked to it, and she noticed. Her gaze narrowed. 

I licked my lips, nervous and aroused.

“A shame,” Meredith replied, leaning against the door. “If you had merely forgotten the order I gave you regarding that Ferelden bitch Hawke, I may have been moved toward leniency. That you claim perfect memory, however, speaks of public defiance. And you know what that means, Orsino, don’t you?”

“P-private submission,” I stammered, heart hammering like an Orzammar smith. Sweet Maker, why couldn’t I just keep quiet? Why was I showing such weakness?

In my heart, I knew. I _wanted_ this. My _body_ wanted this. It was only my treacherous mind that struggled to accept the inevitable. 

“Private submission,” Meredith said with some satisfaction. “Correct. Such open, premeditated disobedience requires something a little more… _lasting…_ than your previous punishment, don’t you think?”

I shrugged, unable to look away from her.

“Stand up, Orsino.”

I stood. My stomach lurched and roiled, but my cock was harder than a golem’s shell. 

“Come round to the side of your desk.”

I obeyed, feet moving without instruction from my mind.

“Turn around. Bend over.”

I bent over the edge of my own desk, bracing my hands against the aged, worn wood. 

“Lower,” she growled. “I want your face against the wood.” Her voice had roughened, either in excitement or anger I could not tell. Perhaps it was both.

I bent lower until my flushed cheek lay against the cool surface, hands clutching the edges.

“A perfect position,” she murmured. “Docile, subservient. If only all your mages were so willing to receive their punishments.”

I shifted uneasily, trying not to believe the implication in her words. She punished other mages like this?

I was not the only one?

What feeling was this – outrage at my people’s situation… or jealousy that I was not the only man (or woman) to feel the controlling touch of her hand? Maker, help me. I feared it was the latter.

I heard the faint clank of armour as she approached, then felt movement from behind. She raised the hem of my robe to my waist, exposing my skinny buttocks and throbbing member to the cool air. A second later, she had thrown both her gauntlets onto my desk. They landed with a thump that startled me.

Then I felt the sweet, blessed touch of her bare hand against my skin, her palm trailing over one buttock. I shuddered, drawing a sharp breath.

“Your punishment, Orsino, will be ten spanks. I have punished many people before in the same fashion – mages and templars alike – and their behaviour has always improved as a result. You will count them.”

I gulped, bit my lip. Tried to frame the words of a denial. Failed.

“Y-yes, Knight-Commander.”

Her hand left my buttock, only to return a second later and connect with a resounding slap that shook my whole body. I cried out, more from surprise than pain.

“You must count,” she hissed. “If I have to tell you again, I will double your punishment.”

“One!” I howled. She spanked me again, this time on the other buttock, and I groaned out the number. My cock bobbed and jerked between my legs; I had never felt so aroused, so shamed, so dirty. So desperate to come. 

I counted. Meredith tore the number from me with every slap, every stinging blow, and when she finally reached ten I felt I might pass out. The pain was indescribable, the embarrassment and shame beyond anything I had ever felt, but it had somehow translated into pleasure so fierce I could barely support my own weight on the desk. 

“Stand straight,” she barked. 

With an effort I obeyed. I glanced down to see my cock standing firm, jutting out with obscene glee. 

Her left arm curled around my waist, drawing me close to her body. For a wild second I hoped she would touch my cock again, stroke me until I came at her command, but she seemed more interested in pinning me against her.

I let out a startled gasp as the heated flesh of my buttocks met her cool armour. My skin was sore, yet the metal soothed it, just a little.

“I can see you will remember this lesson for some time to come,” Meredith purred in my ear, her breath disturbing my hair. “But… I feel more is required…”

The fingers of her right hand cupped my chin. I felt calluses on her fingertips from years of wielding a sword. I trembled, aware of the power in her grip. If she wanted, she could snap my neck with barely a flex of her muscles.

Light pressure, pulling my mouth open. I did not – could not – resist. A finger slipped into my mouth, then another; I closed my lips around them and suckled like a babe to its mother’s teat. Shameful, erotic pleasure rippled through my body, making me groan around her digits.

Meredith pulled her fingers from my mouth with a wet pop. My breathing was rough, the pain in my buttocks directly transmuted to pleasure I barely understood. 

Her fingers were at my hip, then my buttocks. She pushed me away from her, just an inch or two, and that was when one saliva-slick finger slipped into the puckered ring of my arse. 

I tensed, totally unused to such an unfamiliar invasion. I tried to pull away but Meredith’s grip on my body was iron. 

“Hold still,” she purred. I wriggled, unable to obey the order, horror rising within me… and then her finger slid deeper and rubbed against something. My cock twitched and I let out a strangled cry.

“Such a slut,” she cooed in my ear. “I knew you couldn’t resist that.” She drew her finger back, and I trembled at the unexpectedly full feeling. She pushed back in. The second finger was joined by a third. Again it rubbed against that special, magical spot, and I groaned. My pelvis bucked once, twice, and would have bucked again if she had not clamped a strong hand over my hip.

“Mage-slut,” she whispered harshly. “Filthy little knife-ears. You will come on my order.”

Oh, sweet Andraste’s tits, I was ready to come right now! If she rubbed that spot just a few more times –

Her left hand closed around my cock and I nearly blacked out as a fierce, white-hot surge of pleasure raced through my body.

“C-can’t stop!” I gasped, bucking and trembling in her grip.

She stilled the fingers moving inside me, and the hand on my cock slid down to the base of my shaft. She squeezed, gently, and after a few seconds I realised the desperate urge to come had passed.

“Beg me,” Meredith ordered. “I know how badly you need this release, Orsino. Beg me for it. Beg me like the whore you are.”

“Please,” I whispered, reaching behind me. I felt only armour where I longed to feel bare flesh. She flexed the fingers still deep inside me and I whimpered. “Please!” I begged. 

“Please what?”

Oh, the bitch. She wanted to drag out every last inch of my self-respect until there was nothing left.

“Please… make me come.” My head fell back, eyes closed, mouth open as I gasped for breath.

“Tell me what you are.” 

“A slut…”

“What kind of slut?” 

“A m-mage-slut!”

“And who do you belong to?”

Sweet Andraste. I was so close to tears. 

“I belong to y-you. K-Knight Commander M-Meredith.” She had me stuttering like an apprentice, newly snatched from his family. 

“There’s a good little knife-ears,” she rumbled. Her fingers once again began their dance in and out of my arse, even as her other hand slid up and down my shaft. My hands clenched into fists as my whole body tensed, bucking and writhing under her firm grip. All I could hear was my frenetic breathing and the wet, obscene noises of her hand on my cock.

“The next time you misbehave I will fuck your arse.” There was no mistaking the excitement in her voice. 

The filthy words were all the extra stimulation I needed to make me come. I let out a helpless yell as stream upon stream of seed shot from my cock, flying across my desk in a prodigious tide.

Then Meredith’s fingers were in my mouth again, and I was sucking them, sucking as if my life depended on it. After a few minutes she released me from her hold and I collapsed to my knees, drained more utterly of strength than any spell could manage.

“You disgust me,” she hissed. “Dirty whore. Clean up this mess.”

And with that, she was gone.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meredith makes good on her last promise, leaving Orsino a trembling, needy wreck.

That evening’s activities forced me to examine my own nature, and the Knight-Commander’s, in painfully close detail.

Her parting words had hit me like a physical blow. It was not the first time that she’d called me a whore during our ‘sessions’, but it made me think – was this the _true_ identity of my sexual nature? I had lusted after pretty girls, of course, had often taken myself in hand to relieve the tension of living in a celibate Circle – but it had been many long years since I’d lain with a woman. It had been a ‘normal’ coupling, with no sparring for dominance, no punishment. No shame and self-hatred.

And it had not aroused me so much as I had been in the last few days. 

Was I, then, a sexual submissive? Or was it just the unique situation the Maker had forced us into?

Somehow, I did not believe that the Maker had anything to do with this, save perhaps for bearing Lady Hawke safely over the sea to Kirkwall. Meredith’s words hinted at previous sexual deviancies; she’d spanked me with a practiced hand, fingered my arse with experience. I wondered whom she had practised the art upon. Were they men and women I saw every day? Were they Senior Enchanters, templar Lieutenants… or did she restrict herself to apprentices and recruits?

Every night, I longed for her to come to me, to bend me to her will. I fantasised about what she did after she she’d left me. It was obvious my submission aroused her. Did she return to her rooms and masturbate, strong finger dancing over her clit as she made herself come? Or did she find some helpless young apprentice or recruit to fill her? Depraved fantasies filled my dreams, and I woke every morning hard and aching. I touched myself frequently, but was still unable to come.

During the days, however, there were other things to consider. The situation between the templars and the mages was escalating on a frightening scale. 

It wasn’t long before I learned of the deaths of both mages and templars. The infamous Champion of Kirkwall helped renegade mages from Starkhaven gain their freedom, and several highly placed templars were murdered. The Circle was implicated. 

Things could not continue in such a vein, and I knew I would have to speak out – to speak to Hawke. She was a reasonable woman, though forthright in her views, and if she could be persuaded to mediate rather than take sides, all-out war might yet be avoided. Eventually, in desperation, I sent a letter to her Hightown Estate.

Unfortunately for me – or perhaps, _fortunately_ – the Knight-Commander’s agents intercepted the letter.

Meredith came to my private quarters late the night I sent my letter. I heard a firm knock on my door and, thinking it to be one of my Senior Enchanters, I opened up without a thought.

“Conspiring behind my back,” Meredith breathed, eyes alight with dark fervour. “I could invoke the Right of Annulment for this, Orsino, and slaughter every single mage in their beds.”

My face drained of all colour and my legs began to tremble. She pushed her way past me. She closed and locked the door.

“I – there was no conspiracy!” I tried. “I want no violence between us, Meredith, _please –_ ”

“Shut up,” she muttered, angry. “Take off your robes and get on the bed. I want you on all fours like the dog you are.” 

I stood stock still, trying to process what I had just heard. 

If I obeyed her orders now, would she refrain from invoking the Right of Annulment? I looked at her, a hopeful expression lighting my face. 

She gave me a faint, imperceptible nod. I realised that we understood each other very well.

Still trembling from a mixture of anticipation and fear, I slipped out of my robe and climbed onto the bed. My cock was hard and aching, thrusting up between my legs, longing for the touch of its mistress.

Meredith didn’t speak, but I sensed her presence behind me. Her gauntlets clanked to the floor and I felt her hand on my buttocks. With no preamble she began to spank me – far harder than she had before – and harder still; by the time I’d reached a count of ten I was sobbing. My buttocks and upper thighs were on fire but my cock had never been so stiff. I felt that the mere touch of her hand on my shaft would send me over the edge.

Meredith remained silent save for the roughened sound of her breathing. I stiffened as I felt cool fingers slide between my buttocks; first one, then two, then finally three fingers were eased up my arse. From the ease with which they slipped inside me, I realised she had some kind of lubrication on her fingers.

Then it hit me. She was going to make good on her promise from my last ‘punishment’.

“P-please don’t!” I whined, turning my head so that I could see her. “P-please don’t fuck me…”

Maker, the words sounded so degenerate on my lips. My cock throbbed harder. My body _wanted_ her to fuck me, _wanted_ her to abuse me, to degrade me, to place me beneath her!

She withdrew her fingers from my arse, and I felt a sense of disappointment so hard that it almost made me choke. She plucked a candle from a stand nearby and blew out the flame, meeting my burning gaze as she did so. 

Was this to be the instrument of my deflowering? A simple household candle?

“Take a good look at it,” she rasped. “Imagine how it will feel as I push it all the way into you. How you will look with just an inch or so poking out of your arse. So wicked. So dirty.”

I gulped, my face on fire with a mixture of shame and arousal. 

“You don’t have to do this…”

Her free hand snaked beneath me and encircled my cock. I let out a startled gasp, body tensing.

“No? Your _cock_ is telling me a different story, Orsino. Your _cock_ is telling me that you want to be fucked. Very badly. Maker’s breath, you’re such a whore.”

“N-no…”

“Yes! Admit it! Tell me how badly you need it.” Her hand stroked up and down my shaft and I hissed with pleasure. “Remember how my fingers felt, sliding in and out of you.”

“ _Maker…!_ ”

I couldn’t help it. I came in a long stream, my body bucking and twisting. She had barely touched me, barely stroked me, but I was so completely aroused that I couldn’t control myself.

“ _You came without my permission, Orsino._ ” Her voice was cold and hard, but there was a raw edge of lust underneath it – sweet Andraste, she was just as turned on as I was. I was no longer sure who was the real deviant.

“I-I’m sorry, Meredith…” I rasped, still panting from the force of my orgasm.

“Sorry isn’t good enough. I had planned to use only this candle on your virgin arse – to break you in easy, as it were – but your disobedience calls for a harsher form of punishment. Something like… ah, like _that._ ”

My head whipped round to see what she had found, and I blanched. She had found a larger candle, one of the stout ones I used at my private desk.

“M-Meredith, no, please,” I babbled, fear whipping through me. Why was my cock still hard? “That thing’s going to rip me apart…!”

“You should have thought of that before you lost control.” Her voice had returned to a purr. “Furthermore, I want you to watch every second of your deflowering. I want to see your face as I possess you. On your back, my little mage-slut.”

My arms gave way and I collapsed on to the bed, wincing as I landed in a cold puddle of my own seed. I turned over, using a corner of the bedspread to wipe it off, and tried not to look at the candle she clutched so lovingly in one hand.

“Look at me,” the Knight-Commander ordered. “Do not look away, or your punishment will be more severe.”

“More severe than taking the First Enchanter?” I snorted, then bit my lip at my own temerity. 

Her smile was thin and devious. “My dear, sweet Orsino, I have not even begun to show you the levels of punishment I can inflict on disobedient mages. Now raise your legs and hold them up.”

My whole body trembled as I obeyed, raising my legs and supporting them behind the knees. I was so very, very afraid, but still my treacherous cock bobbed and pulsed. Disgust washed through me in a potent wave, but it was overwhelmed by a need to climax again.

Chunky candle in one hand, pot of lubricant in the other, Meredith climbed onto the bed and knelt between my legs. She laid the candle on my belly, and I couldn’t help staring at it – twelve inches at least, and wider than my own cock. Maker help me, how was I possibly going to take something like that?

My rising fear was instantly derailed when I felt one cold finger probe between my buttocks. Sliding along the crease, Meredith’s lubricated finger slipped into my arse. I bit back a groan as she worked it in and out, but couldn’t withhold a cry as she added a second finger. Her digits found that special place inside me and my back arched. She held me down and worked a third finger inside.

“Meredith!” I whispered, desperately frightened that I would climax again before she was ready to give permission. 

“Hush,” she murmured. She removed her fingers and picked up the candle. Her fingers glistened obscenely with lubricant, and as I watched, she reached into the small pot and hooked out another dollop. She smeared it over the pointed end of the candle and over the shaft.

My arms trembled so badly that I couldn’t hold my legs up, and they landed on Meredith’s shoulders with a soft thump. She grunted with irritation, but her only response was to pull my hips forwards and up. I realised, with a throb of mixed arousal and fear, that she had placed me in a better position to fuck me. 

The candle was at the entrance to my arse. Slowly, giving me ample time to watch her movements, she began to push the pointed head into me. It slid in a fraction at a time, stretching me, making me gasp and twitch with pain.

It only went in about six inches or so. The other half of the candle jutted from my arse like a deviant decoration. 

“I will remember this moment for the rest of my life,” Meredith growled, a feral look of lust highlighting her stern features. “The First Enchanter of the Kirkwall Circle stretched out on his bed, spreading his legs so the Knight Commander can fuck him senseless. So filthy. So perfect.” 

My cock throbbed in response to her words. She began to ease the makeshift phallus out of my arse, slowly, so slowly; my muscles flexed as she pulled it nearly all the way out. Then, eyes fixed on mine, she slid it back in again. As it moved, it hit that magical spot again and I whimpered.

“Such a whore,” Meredith said huskily. The candle came out, then went in again;she set up a rhythm that had me writhing underneath her. I had never imagined I would derive such depraved pleasure from having my arse violated, but I was. _Such_ pleasure.

“Please,” I whimpered. “Harder?” Maker, were those words really coming from my mouth?

“You want me to fuck you harder, Orsino?” she asked, her clever hand always moving. “You want me to pound this candle into your greedy arse, you little slut?”

“Oh god, yes! _Sweet Andraste…!_ ” She picked up the pace before I’d even finished speaking. I felt like a whore. I _was_ a whore. Meredith’s whore.

She leaned forward, pinning my writhing, bucking body down with her free hand. Her breathing was rough.

“Come for me, mage-slut,” she ordered. 

“Please…!” I was almost crying, head tossing wildly from side to side as my pleasure rose to fever pitch. “Please _touch_ me…!”

The hand on my chest closed around my cock and pumped up and down. In just a few seconds I was coming, jet after jet spewing from my cock and splashing across her breastplate. I yelled, unable to keep quiet, beyond caring that my pride had been ripped away with my virginity.

Eventually, when my orgasm was finished and Meredith pulled the candle from my slick arse, a few shreds of reality began to trickle back. I was naked on my bed, naked and abused with the Knight Commander kneeling over me.

“Are you done now?” I croaked, turning my cheek to the pillow to hide the tears sliding down my face. “Is that it?”

“Sweet Enchanter,” Meredith crooned, her voice was so gentle that I couldn’t help but look at her face. Her tender expression startled me, so different from anything I had seen there before. “I am nearly done. You came so beautifully after taking your punishment. Perhaps next time, you will refrain from associating yourself with that Ferelden bitch.”

I was so tired, so strung out, I could only focus on the first thing she’d said. “ _Nearly_ done…?”

“You came all over my breastplate. Lick it clean. Then I will leave you.”

Lick her breastplate clean… sweet Maker, suddenly I was hard again and scrabbling to my knees.

As my head descended to her armoured chest, Meredith uttered a throaty laugh.

“Make sure you get all of it.”

I fell to with a will, swirling my tongue all over the raised edges and bumps of her breastplate. My salty come mixed with the acrid tang of her armour polish. I licked and licked and licked until it was clean, and would have continued had I not felt her hand touch my head. Her fingers tangled in my hair for a second before gently pulling my face upwards.

“We are done here, Orsino,” she murmured. “Clean yourself up.”

I watched her with burning eyes as she got off the bed and picked up her gauntlets. She unlocked the door and left, not once looking back.

Meredith had left the candle behind. 

My cock twitched.


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orsino, in an attempt to broker some kind of peace between the templars and the mages, disturbs Meredith while she is otherwise entertained with another mage. The encounter sets up a chain of events that cannot be undone.

I stayed well away from Hawke and her associates, instead spending long hours in the Gallows. My days were devoted to appeasing the more vocal elements of the Circle, those men and women who were determined to be out from under the templars’ controlling hand. My nights were filled with bouts of desperate, fruitless masturbation. No matter how long I stroked myself, no matter what variation of grip or pace, I could not achieve an orgasm. 

During the depths of my sexual depression I sunk so low as to penetrate myself with the candle Meredith had left behind, gradually growing more comfortable with the feeling of the beast inside me. I learned very quickly that, despite the threat of using the thicker, longer candle, she had been gentle – I could, and did, take more. I grew so close to orgasm that I could almost imagine I was there – but that elusive explosion was still beyond me. Still in Meredith’s possession.

The Knight-Commander’s intrusions into the mages lives became more intense, more unforgivable. Eventually word came to me that many mages were being locked in their rooms, prisoners in the place that had once held captive slaves. The irony was not lost on me, but it was one injustice too many. I _had_ to do something or, I suspected, my Senior Enchanters would begin plans to have me replaced… and Meredith along with me.

I decided to approach the Knight-Commander personally and discuss the situation with her. It had not been the first attempt nor, I suspected, would it be the last, but I would try for a diplomatic solution until diplomacy was held at sword point.

I approached Meredith’s rooms very late that night, hoping that she would not be asleep – common rumour claimed that she slept only a few hours a night. As I reached her door, I noticed a templar stationed outside.

“Has the Knight-Commander retired for the evening?” I asked. He was a big, burly man I recognised as Radditch, one of Meredith’s more senior Lieutenants.

He offered me a dark glare. “She has given orders that she is not to be disturbed.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when I heard a noise from the other side of the door – a shape female yelp. Then a low, familiar voice.

Meredith. She had someone in there. A woman. 

A raw, red emotion surged through me, and it took a second to identify what it was – jealousy. I was _jealous_ that Meredith was ‘punishing’ someone else! 

Maker help me, this would be a bad time to disturb her. But – didn’t templar business rank more importantly than her own perverted pleasures? 

I would be punished for interrupting, I knew that much. 

“She will agree to be disturbed by _me,_ ” I said sharply, squaring my shoulders. I offered Radditch the haughtiest look I could muster, every inch the First Enchanter. “Tell her I wish to see her.”

Radditch was silent for a long, tense moment, and I wondered if he would ignore my order. Eventually, though, he nodded and turned to rap on the door.

The door was opened from the inside. I caught a brief glimpse of Meredith’s flushed face before her eyes lit on me. I met her gaze and was almost seared by the heat.

“I – I wished to speak with you,” I said, ashamed at the stutter in my voice.

“Now is not a… convenient time,” she replied. “However, now that you are here, I feel you could serve a more practical purpose. Radditch, escort the First Enchanter inside.” Her face vanished from the door.

I had a bad feeling about this, but my cock stirred at the command in her voice. I followed behind the armoured Radditch and entered Meredith’s personal chambers. He closed and locked the door behind me, moving to one side, allowing me an undisturbed view of just what – or rather, who – Meredith had been doing.

“Oh, blessed Andraste…” I murmured.

Part of the room was taken up by a large desk. There was a woman on the desk, a human. A mage.

It was Varli, one of my Senior Enchanters.

Varli was up on all fours, her robe opened at the front to reveal large breasts. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the sight, mesmerised by what Meredith had done to them. 

Her creamy white orbs were pushed together and tied by a length of soft rope. Her dusky pink nipples stood erect. They were topped by little silver devices, and it took me a second to realise that they were clamps. Meredith had put nipple clamps on her breasts. And, sweet Maker, I noticed red marks on those obscenely jutting globes. Hand prints. _Meredith had spanked her breasts._

A low moan escaped my lips. I met Varli’s gaze, and I recognised everything I saw in them – shame, fear, self-hatred… but the most dominant emotion was lust. Like me – like countless others, for all I knew – she was a slave to Meredith’s dominant hand. 

“I have not yet finished with Varli,” Meredith purred. “Sit down, Orsino. Make yourself comfortable.”

“This is wrong,” I said, my voice unsteady. “Surely you must see this. Involving other people in your petty power struggles.”

Meredith’s eyes flashed, and beside me, I heard Radditch shift in anticipation of conflict. 

“That is not for you to decide,” she said, her voice hard. “Lieutenant, show the First Enchanter to a seat.”

The burly templar almost pushed me into a chair. As I sat down, I realised that the jutting tent of my erection would be clearly visible, and indeed, Radditch was smirking. Embarrassment tinged my cheeks.

“ _Why?_ ”

I jumped, startled by the unfamiliar tone, then realised that the voice had come from Varli.

“Why let her get away with this, Orsino? You’re the _First Enchanter!_ ”

Meredith moved to her side and squeezed the woman’s breast. Varli gasped, whether in pleasure or pain – or a combination of both – I couldn’t tell. 

“That’s enough from you,” she purred. “Orsino was far more compliant. Would you like me to use the ball gag on you again? So red, so round, forcing those perfect lips apart… it’s your choice, Varli.”

Poor Varli flushed scarlet. “I’ll – I’ll be quiet, Knight-Commander,” she mumbled.

“Such a good girl. Now stay quiet and let me finish your punishment.”

I couldn’t look away. My cock was rock hard as I watched Meredith lift the hem of Varli’s robes around her waist. From my position I had a good view of her bottom, and I admired the smooth, round curve of her buttocks.

Meredith began to spank her.

The spanking went on for some time, each rise and fall of her bare hand resulting in a slap that made Varli squeal and jerk. But she made no move to get off the desk, no move to escape; Meredith didn’t even have to hold her down. Like me, I could tell that Varli was deriving a peculiar brand of arousal from the rough spanking. 

When she was done, Varli’s cheeks were enflamed. I wondered if mine looked the same after I had been spanked, and I felt my cock lurch in response. I shifted uncomfortably. Beside me, I noticed that Radditch was doing the same – he was just as aroused as me! Dear Maker, were we all deviants, all linked by our desire to submit to Meredith’s will?

Meredith licked her lips, eyes flicking over Varli’s form. “So delicious,” she remarked, slipping one hand between the woman’s legs. “So wet. A dripping pussy is such a tragic thing to waste, wouldn’t you say, Orsino?”

“I – I wouldn’t know,” I coughed. “I have not had many experiences with women for some years.”

She snorted. “Radditch, you’re wearing too much armour. I want you naked.”

He jumped to his feet and bowed. 

“Yes, Knight-Commander,” he said respectfully. I glanced at him as he began to strip. How long had he been under her power? 

Meredith came round to sit beside me and I shifted nervously. “Relax,” she told me, a teasing twinkle in her eyes that I didn’t trust for one second. “You have behaved for some time now. I believe a reward is in order.”

“A reward?” 

She reached out and touched my groin. I drew a sharp breath as she slowly manipulated my cock through my robe.

“Yes, a reward. Kneel before me, Orsino.”

Wondering what deviant plan she had devised for me this time, I hastened to obey. My eyes never left her. 

Her hands reached down to grasp the hem of her long, heavy skirt. She slowly raised it, revealing shapely calves, scarred knees… I drew another sharp breath when I saw her muscular thighs. 

She spread her legs wide. Beckoned me with one crooked finger.

I leaned forward, trembling with a mixture of anticipation and deepest lust. I had dreamed of this moment for weeks now, dreamed of being able to touch her skin, to feel the warmth of her body beneath my hands…

“You will lick my pussy until I come,” she ordered. “You may begin.” 

She wore no undergarments.

Now I could see her naked pussy and I was transfixed. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen, and my lust-addled brain could think of nothing else. Her nether lips were shaved bare, only a thin strip of blonde hair running up and over her mound. Exquisite. I was almost afraid to touch her.

But lust quickly won out over fear. I leaned forward, gently placing my hands on her upper thighs. I ran my palms over her skin, glorying in the power I felt, the contrast between hard metal armour and soft flesh. I bent my head, extended my tongue and lapped at her pussy.

The _taste_ of her, the _smell_ of her…! Spanking Varli had obviously aroused her; she was soaking wet and my tongue glided over her slickness. I had little idea how to pleasure a woman, but I obeyed Meredith’s crooning instructions and took my time.

“Radditch.” Her voice was rough, her breathing unsteady. _I_ had done that. _I,_ the mage-slut, had done that. “You have been a very good boy this week. Your reward is to fuck Varli until you come.” She gasped as I attacked her clit, hands twining in my hair. 

Radditch immediately moved behind Varli, and I realised now that Meredith had positioned herself so that she would have a perfect view of the couple’s rutting. I wished briefly that I could see what was going on, but then contented myself to the Knight-Commander’s pussy. So hot, so wet…

Varli squealed and I guessed that Radditch had penetrated her. Would he take her pussy, I wondered briefly, or her arse? I’d liked the way her bottom curved…

Meredith’s hands tightened in my hair. I slid my tongue deep inside her. She squirmed.

Behind me, I heard a wet slapping noise, the sound of Radditch’s balls slapping against Varli’s arse. I groaned, and the vibrations went straight from my mouth to Meredith’s pussy. She arched against me.

“Such a good…little mage-slut,” she gasped. I slid my hands under her thighs, and I was just able to touch her bottom.

Varli was moaning uncontrollably, and I was easily able to picture her in my head. As Radditch pounded into her, her breasts would jiggle obscenely, the movement making her ultra-sensitive nipples respond to the clamps. I pictured Radditch’s hands gripping her arse as he rode her, heard his grunts of pleasure, heard two sharp slaps as he spanked her…

Varli screamed, a long, low, drawn out sound of exquisite pleasure. I guessed she had just come. I imagined her pussy walls convulsing around Radditch’s cock and, a second later, heard his uncontrolled groan as he, too, came. Then all I could hear were their panting breaths.

Throughout all this I had not ceased tending to Meredith’s pussy. I lapped like a contented kitten, suckling her juices, laving her clit with my tongue. Her breathing roughened further and eventually her whole body tensed, her fingers clenching painfully in my hair. She never cried out – barely made a sound – but I knew she had come. I felt a rush of power and pride and raised my damp face to look at her.

Her cheeks were flushed, eyes half-lidded, mouth agape. She looked down at me and smiled.

“Good whore,” she crooned. “Good little bitch. I haven’t come so hard in weeks. Perhaps I should make you my personal pussy slave, little bitch? Would you like that? To worship between my legs, whenever I give the order?”

“Sweet Maker, _yes,_ ” I breathed, and right at that moment I believed it with all my heart.

“Switch places with Varli.”

I was abruptly still, horror racing through me. “But M-Meredith… you want me to let R-Radditch…?” I couldn’t speak the question.

Her lips curved in a cruel smile. “I will let Radditch fuck your tight little arse until you scream for release. I believe your practise with the candle has loosened you up.”

“How do you know that?” I gasped, shame coursing through me again.

“Never you mind. Varli – get over here.” There was no mistaking the command in her voice, and I turned to the woman climbing carefully off the desk. She tottered over to us and almost collapsed to her knees beside me.

I rose to my feet, turning to look at Radditch. He was grinning, one hand running slowly up and down what seemed to me like a massive cock. Trembling, I walked to the desk. How was he hard again so quickly?

“Take off your robe, Orsino,” Meredith said.

It took me a while to get the buttons undone. I let the garment drop to the floor and climbed clumsily onto Meredith’s desk.

From this position, I had a good view of Varli kneeling between the Knight-Commander’s legs. Her face was already buried in her pussy, and I was helpless to withhold a light moan at the erotic scene. 

Behind me, I jumped as I felt Radditch’s hand on one buttock. He squeezed, his fingers digging into my flesh.

Then his hand was withdrawn. A second later, I felt his fingers again at my opening, easing lubrication into me. I pictured him smearing it on his shaft, the large, purple head glistening as his hand moved.

Then his cock was at my arse and he was pushing, pushing. Nothing gave way until, with a sudden, startling movement, he was in. Pain rippled through me and I cried out, but Radditch was relentless – he drove slowly into me until he was buried balls deep. I felt his tight matt of pubic hair tickling my arse cheeks.

I drew in a long, slow breath and tried to relax even as he withdrew. Then he slammed back in and was fucking me with gusto, a hand on the back of my neck as he drove into me again and again. His cock was brushing against that magical sweet spot deep inside me and I whimpered with every thrust, whimpered like a whore.

Then his hand was in my hair, pulling my head back. His free hand was at my hip. With my head raised I was only able to stare at Meredith, stare as Varli ate her pussy, consumed her juices. Meredith was undulating under her tongue, both hands in the woman’s hair. I had not seen her face when she came before, but I watched her avidly now.

Radditch was pounding away behind me, the feel of his cock sliding in and out driving me mad with lust. He spanked my buttock with one broad hand and I yelped; he seemed to like the sound as he did it again. 

“Fucking slut,” he grunted. “Damn mage whore, such a tight arse… fuck, yeah…”

I could tell that Meredith was close, so close as Varli licked her. And then her face twisted… her eyes screwed tight… her mouth dropped open as she panted… her whole body tensed, her back arching…

Meredith’s orgasm was the most erotic thing that I had ever seen, more erotic than Varli’s bare, bound and beaten breasts. I pushed back against Radditch and then I was coming too, my cock pulsing and twitching as I shot the biggest load of my life onto Meredith’s desk. I cried out, writhing and bucking, my arse constricting around Radditch’s cock. That set him off, and with a few hard pumps he was coming deep inside me.

No one spoke for several minutes, each of us trying to regain our breath. Varli rocked back onto her heels, watching Meredith with anxious, tired eyes.

Eventually the Knight-Commander got lazily to her feet, letting her skirt drop back into place. 

“Good little sluts,” she purred. “All of you. You have all submitted to my will. You may go. Radditch… stay.”

I almost cried out. Almost begged her to let me stay, to let me lick her again, to feel her smooth skin under my hands. But one last tiny scrap of pride kept me silent. 

I dressed without a word, trying to ignore the unpleasant sensation of Radditch’s come dribbling down my leg. I watched, fascinated, as Meredith removed Varli’s nipple clamps; the Senior Enchanter gasped with pain as they were taken off one by one. She untied the rope, leaving deep marks behind. I imagined the tingle of blood rushing back into her nipples must be painful, and indeed, the tears pricking the corner of her eyes reinforced that notion.

As Varli adjusted her robe to cover her bare breasts, I heard Meredith ordering Radditch to lie on the floor. He obeyed without question, his cock – still hard! – jutting obscenely into the air. Meredith raised her long skirt to her waist and crouched over him. I noticed his eyes were glued to her pussy where, indeed, my eyes were also glued.

Slowly she eased herself down onto his cock. She was going to fuck him right there on her floor, going to ride him like a horse. Despite my exhaustion, my own cock twitched back to life.

“Please… may I stay?” I begged, hating the subservient note in my voice. “May I watch?”

Her eyes were slits as she regarded us. “No. Go to your rooms. Now.”

“But – !”

“No arguments!” she ordered. “Get out!”

Varli and I were forced to leave as she rode her toy. The door closed behind us, but I knew that what I had seen would remain burned into my mind for a long, long time to come. I looked at Varli, but she wouldn’t meet my eye.

With a sinking heart, I realised that she’d lost whatever respect she might have had for me. Had I been able to resist Meredith’s punishments, Varli would have made a powerful ally, but now… I was an enemy, one of the Knight-Commander’s pets.

Two days later, I learned that she was sheltering apostate mages in the Gallows itself.

A day after that, Meredith found out.


End file.
